Oct 08, 2020 3:45 pm

Featured Research: Watching Atoms Bang Together

Collisions between atoms are more complex than those between everyday objects, which typically just ricochet off one another. Thanks to the quirks of quantum mechanics, atoms can intertwine and pass through one another, leading to nonintuitive impact outcomes. To better understand atomic collisions, Qingze Guan of the University of Oklahoma in Norman and colleagues developed a way to watch two atoms crash together in 3D. Their initial experiments reveal the unmistakable hallmarks of quantum collisions. The team says that the setup could be used to monitor run-ins between several particles at…